Huddersfield Town 2-1 Wolves

 Wolves today slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield. Both Huddersfield strikers scored in the first half, before Sylvan Ebanks-Blake pulled one back in the second half. Despite plenty of Wolves pressure, most notably Dave Edwards hitting the post, Huddersfield were able to hold on to claim the three points. 

- Ståle Solbakken's team selections are becoming quite predictable - not that there's anything wrong with a settled team. With Karl Henry suspended and Jermaine Pennant recruited last week from Stoke City, no one will have been surprised at the 4-4-2 that was selected. The only real question was who would take the captain's armband in the absence of Henry. Both Stephen Ward and Kevin Doyle have taken the armband on occasion this season, and today it was Doyle who got the nod.

- The most noticeable tactic of the first half was the way that Huddersfield utilised the energy of former Everton pairing Jermaine Beckford and James Vaughan. Twice in the opening six minutes, Beckford dropped off, pulling Christophe Berra with him. Vaughan then ran into the space vacated by Berra and had the long balls been slightly more accurate, he could easily have had two good chances early on. They also worked very hard without the ball, getting in the faces of Berra and Roger Johnson and not allowing them time to pass out of defence. Slow build-ups have been a feature of our play over the past month or so, but Beckford and Vaughan worked well not to allow Johnson and Berra the time to pass into midfield. Huddersfield's midfielders also did well to prevent Tongo Doumbia and David Davis the space to receive the ball, effectively shutting down our passing at the source.

- I'd say the game had been fairly even when Huddersfield took the lead, and indeed we were actually attempting to initiate an attack. Stephen Ward had done well to keep the ball in play, playing a pass into Bakary Sako. Sako then tried a flick to Kevin Doyle that was intercepted. With Ward out of position up the pitch, Jack Hunt had acres of space to move into, despite Sako's best attempts to get back. In the box, Vaughan's movement was clever, peeling onto Kevin Foley at the far post, who he easily outmuscled to power home the deep cross. It was a good goal from Huddersfield's point of view, with a quick transition from defence to attack that put us on the back foot. I'm not sure how much Foley could have done; Vaughan is clearly stronger than him, but maybe Foley should have done better to put him off.

- The second goal was virtually an identikit of the first - another deep cross from the right to the far post, met by a Huddersfield striker who had pulled onto Foley. This time it was Beckford, with an acrobatic scissor kit that squirmed under Carl Ikeme. Given his performances so far this season, I am loath to blame Ikeme, but at first glance he maybe should have done better. So to, should Foley, who either wasn't aware of Beckford's position or just decided not to try and impede him. The Foley v Ronald Zubar debate has occurred regularly over the past three years, and I've always been firmly in the Kevin Foley camp. But, you have to suspect that Zubar would have done a better job at protecting the far post than Foley managed today.

- During the first half, it struck me how programmed the players are at focussing everything down the left flank. We spent the last three years with Matt Jarvis as the primary attacking threat, while a host of right sided midfielders either weren't good enough or spent their entire time injured. Even at the start of this season, we've not had a particularly stable right flank, either in midfield or defence, again leading to overdependence on the left wing where Sako has starred. Even in the first half today, Sako on occasion drifted to the right meaning only Ward was on the left. Yet, it was still the first reaction of the team to shift the ball left. I looked at my watch the first time Pennant received the ball into a position where he could run at his fullback; it was 3:46, right before the fourth official announced the added time at the end of the first half.

- At half time, I tweeted I'd have made a change, taking of Ebanks-Blake for Richard Stearman. Admittedly, neither forward had been particularly effective, and it was probably just my own personal bias towards Doyle that would have kept him on. I'd have pushed Foley into midfield, and moved Doumbia further forward, while pushing Pennant and Sako wider and higher up the pitch. As it was, Solbakken chose to bring on Dave Edwards for Davis, presumably hoping Edwards will provide a little more energy and attacking thrust. I'm not the biggest fan of this change - I'd rather Doumbia had the security of someone behind him to go foraging forward.

- But, the biggest change at half time was Huddersfield's. In the first half, Beckford and Vaughan's pressing was backed up by their midfield, but in the second if appeared Simon Grayson took the decision to restrict his midfield, who sat very deep. This meant that it didn't matter that Doumbia didn't have another midfielder behind him; both he and Edwards were free to push forward safe in the knowledge that no Huddersfield midfielders were going to get in behind him. I have to say that Beckford and Vaughan's work rate was superb; Beckford's in particular, as a lone striker after Vaughan was replaced late on, kept running until the death.

- We started the second half well, with Huddersfield's midfield inviting us to play at a far higher tempo that we had in the first half. Bakary Sako played slightly narrower, with the emphasis falling on Ward to provide width on the left. Pennant managed to get more in the game, with some clever touches and a couple of good crosses. It was nice to have a threat on both flanks, and it made it particularly difficult for Huddersfield to defend as they couldn't double up on one wing. We pulled one goal back after Sako did well down the left, and Ebanks-Blake cleverly flicked the ball past Alex Smithies at the near post. Unfortunately, we weren't able to capitalise on this, and instead of pressing on, the tempo dropped and Huddersfield gained a bit of possession. It wasn't until the final 15 minutes that we again looked to seize the initiative.

- We went close to equalising on a few occasions, but couldn't quite get that final chance. With Huddersfield leaving Beckford upfront, totally isolated from his midfield, Solbakken moved Johnson to a permanent centre forward for the final five minutes. We also only left Kevin Foley back for our attacking corners, despite Beckford standing on the halfway line. This almost cost us as Huddersfield looked to counter, but Foley cleverly stepped up to catch Beckford offside just as it looked like Huddersfield had a two-on-one attacking situation.

- I'm still waiting to write a report on an away win - the only other away match I've been to so far was the defeat in Cardiff. But, the good news is I'm unlikely to be travelling to either Burnley or Hull, so six points is inevitable from those games.